Results 15,101-15,120 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I apologise. I do not have an up-to-date answer on that. I will ask the Minister for Health to correspond with Deputy Micheál Martin's office.

Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I think the-----

Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I gave a comprehensive answer on this matter to Deputy McDonald earlier. I can only add that, as has been the case for almost two years, the Government does not control this House. The ordering of business will be determined by the Business Committee, which is to meet after the Cabinet meeting tomorrow.

Leaders' Questions (7 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: I have no difficulties communicating with Prime Minister May. We meet periodically and speak on the phone. We will meet again the week after next, following my return from the United States, when we will both attend the EU Council in Brussels. As I said on "Morning Ireland", the negotiations that occur will do so between European Union, on the one hand, and the United Kingdom, on the...

Leaders' Questions (7 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: It is much more than words. The December joint report is not just words; it is written down in black and white. That is a political agreement and one by which the United Kingdom Government continues to say it abides.

Leaders' Questions (7 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: We have a draft withdrawal agreement, a legal text with an Irish protocol, which achieves what we seek to achieve, namely, ensuring that there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

Leaders' Questions (7 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: We have a solution, namely, option C. The question is whether there might be a better solution and that is what we now need to explore. It is right that we should explore it and that is what the Government will do.

Leaders' Questions (7 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Next week, as part of a one-week mission to the United States, I will be invited to the White House by President Trump. We will hold a bilateral meeting as part of that visit. President Trump is the head of Government of the United States, I am head of Government of Ireland and we are two countries which have very strong links. They are cultural - they run in our blood, most of us have...

Leaders' Questions (7 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Supreme Court issued its judgment this morning in Limerick. The Attorney General has asked for the remainder of the day to study that judgment. As Deputy McDonald rightly pointed out, it is important that we get this right. As Deputy Micheál Martin pointed out yesterday, it is important that we dot the i's and cross the t's. We do not want to make any unforced errors when it...

Leaders' Questions (7 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy is correct that there have been delays and obfuscation regarding this issue down through the years. There were unacceptable delays in legislating for the X case. There were delays in allowing for a referendum and legislation to allow people to have access to information and to underline the right to travel. The Deputy is correct that there have been long-standing delays in...

Leaders' Questions (7 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Crimes of a sexual nature are among the most heinous crimes that can occur and crimes against children are the worst crimes imaginable. I am aware of the arrests of 11 people on Monday by An Garda Síochána. These people have been released and files will be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions. These arrests come as part of an intelligence-led investigation by...

Leaders' Questions (7 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: There is total commitment on the part of the Government to the implementation of the report and the Minister and Government will drive those agencies, Tusla and An Garda Síochána, to do so. We will not take a hands-off approach when it comes to requiring these agencies and bodies to implement the report. The Garda Inspectorate's original report of 2012 made 29 recommendations,...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (6 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: On Deputy Boyd Barrett's first question on Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company, I am not up to date with the issues relating to the harbour but I am familiar with the company and the place from my previous time as Minister with responsibility for transport. It was my view at the time, and we discussed it then, that the smaller harbour companies were not viable as semi-State companies and it...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (6 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: In terms of Project Ireland 2040, that was approved by Cabinet and not by a Cabinet subcommittee, and all projects were assessed by the line Department and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. The extent to which there was assessment depended on the nature of the projects. Projects under the purvey of Transport Infrastructure Ireland or the NTA often had quite detailed...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (6 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: Other ports, for example the Port of Cork, the Port of Dublin and the Port of Foynes, put forward their own detailed proposals for development, which the Government supports. That is why they are included in the plan. The plan, which is backed by a ten year infrastructure investment plan, covers ten years and in any ten year investment plan there is a pipeline of projects, some that are...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Programme for Government Implementation (6 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Seanad implementation group - and it is an implementation group - is designed to implement the Manning proposals. There had been a few suggestions for chairman and I am open to it being a decision of the House rather than my decision. I do not feel it needs to be an appointment that I make-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Programme for Government Implementation (6 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----so I will certainly take Deputy Howlin's suggestion into consideration. It is supposed to be independent. I do not see why it has to be an appointment made by me and I am not sure how that came about in the first place. There is no decision to restore town councils. Sorry. I am being distracted.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Programme for Government Implementation (6 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: As I said, the Government does not have any plan to restore town councils. The matter has been examined. It would cost approximately €40 million a year to do so, and we do not believe that is how ratepayers and people who pay the local property tax would like to see their rates and local property tax money spent.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Programme for Government Implementation (6 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: The Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, when he is ready to publish proposals, will do so. He proposes that town districts and borough districts would essentially function as area committees do now but could have the ceremonial functions that previously town councils and borough councils had. This would be a kind of restoration of their ceremonial functions. He is also carrying out a...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Programme for Government Implementation (6 Mar 2018)

Leo Varadkar: When it comes to DIT's Grangegorman campus and the national children's hospital, the fundamental difference, I would have thought, from a very practical point of view, is that these projects were promised and promised and promised by previous Governments; now they are actually under construction.